


some things never change (they never fade it's never over)

by fowlbyname45



Category: Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
Genre: Book 5: The Lost Colony, Book 8: The Last Guardian, F/M, Four Times, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Loss, Minerva Centric, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:28:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27789742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fowlbyname45/pseuds/fowlbyname45
Summary: Two times Minerva missed Artemis, and two times she remembered him.
Relationships: Artemis Fowl II & Minerva Paradizo, Artemis Fowl II/Minerva Paradizo, Domovoi Butler & Minerva Paradizo
Comments: 10
Kudos: 21





	some things never change (they never fade it's never over)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [arrowsanonymous](https://archiveofourown.org/users/arrowsanonymous/gifts).



> returning to the af fandom once again to post this one shot! i've been rereading the books lately and GOD i love them so much, it feels good to be posting fanfic for them again :)

**_Missing him, the first time_ **

It had been two years since Artemis Fowl mysteriously disappeared with the elf Holly Short and the two demons No1 and Qwan. Two years since Minerva Paradizo had been left without the one person who might have understood her and her considerable intellect. Two years was a long time, and it had taken no small toll on the French girl. At first, she was sure Artemis would come back. Surely he would have a plan; he always did. But after seven hundred and fifty two days, fourteen hours, and forty six minutes, her faith was beginning to diminish. This afternoon she was visiting the cottage in Duncade again to see Butler, just as she had done every week for the past one hundred or so.

“Hello, Butler,” she said, walking through the door to see the bodyguard waiting for her by the bookshelf in the cottage’s small living room. Just as he always was.

“Hello, Minerva,” Butler replied, looking up from a novel and giving her a genuine yet weary smile.

“Do you have any good books to recommend this week?”, the girl inquired.

“Oh, well...I’ve just been rereading this one, actually,” the man responded, showing her a book called _Midnight Waltz in the Mansion._ The cover depicted a beautiful blonde woman with sharp features in the arms of a tall, handsome man with dark hair. Minerva looked at the cover further to see the author’s name: Violet Tsirblou.

Oh.

“I...I think Artemis wrote this about his parents. He loves them more than his own life, you know. It’s...been so long…” The bodyguard trailed off, a crack to his usually strong voice.

Minerva tried her hardest to ignore the pang of sadness she felt in her own chest. “ _Mon Dieu,_ it must be so hard for you.”

Butler looked up at the blonde girl. “And for you too. I know you...cared for him.”

 _Cared for him_. It was true. But there wasn’t hope anymore, was there? Perhaps there never was.

Minerva sighed and sat down beside her friend. “Maybe we can...read something else, _non_?”

Butler shook his head. “No. I’m not giving up. He’s coming back, you’ll see.”

The girl put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, trying to hide her own sadness, before standing up once more to look through the books on the shelf. She pointedly ignored all the ones Artemis had written. There was no point giving herself false hope; she needed to move on.

She had read all of those books before anyway.

*****

**_Remembering him, the first time_ **

After three years - three years of waiting, wishing, hoping and losing hope - Artemis Fowl II was back where he belonged. When Minerva had heard her cell phone ringing and picked it up to see his caller ID flashing at her, she had needed to stifle a gasp. After all this time. And she had been so sure this day would never come. When she answered, she tried her hardest to keep her voice steady.

“Hello?”

“Minerva? It’s Artemis Fowl.”

 _I know_. She had memorized his vocal patterns four years previously, after all. “Artemis. You are home now, then? You are safe?”

He laughed softly. She had missed that sound. “Yes, Minerva. I’m home. I saw Butler, he...he told me how long it had been. I’m sorry, truly. If there was anything I could have done…”

“Why did it take you so long?”, the French girl asked. She had never been one to slack on details.

“We got stuck in Limbo. Abbot and his demons were there, and Holly...well, we were lucky to make it out alive. None of us realized how much time had passed here until we actually got back.”

Minerva nodded slowly. “D’accord. You’re going to explain this all to me - in detail - as soon as possible, bien?”

“Of course. Wouldn’t dream of doing otherwise.” There was a tense pause.

“Butler has missed you so. Your parents too.”

The girl could hear the Irish boy sigh on the other end of the phone. “I have no doubt that you are right. I have brothers now, if you can believe it. Twins.”

“Ah, yes. Young Beckett and Myles. Precious things.” Minerva smirked. “I hope you can handle them; they are quite the handful.”

“I’ve studied quite a bit of developmental psychology. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

“ _Les enfants_ are far more complicated than doing some research, I think. If there’s anything Beau has taught me, it is that.”

“I see. Perhaps I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Yes. Perhaps.”

“I will be calling you again soon, Artemis. We have much to discuss,” Minerva said after a while longer of talking with the boy. Neither of them knew how many minutes had passed.

“I’m counting on it,” he replied.

“And, one more thing.”

“Yes?”

The girl hesitated for a moment before speaking. “I missed you.”

*****

**_Missing him, the second time_ **

Artemis was dead. _Dead_. The word felt foreign and strange to Minerva, as if it shouldn’t be put into the same sentence as the name Artemis Fowl. Butler had invited her to the Manor to break the news to her; he had said he didn’t have the heart to tell her over the phone. As soon as he spoke the words to her, he immediately told her that Artemis was coming back, that he couldn’t be dead, that this was just temporary. He also told her that he had gone out a hero, defeating the pixie Opal Koboi. But Minerva didn’t dare believe that Artemis was coming back again. Not really. It was too outlandish to be true. Death could - would, even - take the brightest of us. Even ones as bright as Artemis Fowl was.

Was, past-tense.

Minerva attended his funeral. She was the only person there that wasn’t a Butler or Fowl; Butler had said she could go in his place. He wasn’t planning on going anyway - it felt too final for a situation that surely wasn’t. The day after, she had visited the Irish boy’s grave in the meadow he had spent so much time working on his solar plane in. There were roses, orange ones, growing around the area, and Minerva cried. She cried for the first time since she was a little, little girl and learned that her mother didn’t love her father anymore. She cried for Butler, for herself, for Angeline and Artemis Senior (no, just Artemis now), for the young twins...and she cried for the broken boy she once cared for.

At one point, Minerva and Butler got to talking. “He’s coming back, I promise you. This isn't the endgame. Soon he’ll be back, and we’ll go on some new harebrained adventure...maybe you can come this time, as if we need another genius in the group...but that would make Artemis happy, I think, having you here with us more often,” Butler said, conviction in his voice.

Minerva looked at him, so much sadness in her eyes. “I...I wish I could believe you, my friend. But no evidence points to that conclusion.”

“Of course it does. He came back from Limbo all that time ago, didn’t he? He’ll pull it off again, trust me. He always does. We've just got to have faith.”

“Butler?”

“Yes, Minerva?”

“If you’re right, I’ll join you, like you said. I’ve been wanting something to do lately anyway.”

The bodyguard smiled. That Minerva, she always knew just what to say.

*****

**_Remembering him, the second time_ **

Artemis was alive. _Alive_. The word felt foreign and strange to Minerva, as if she wasn’t allowed to think it in the same sentence as the name Artemis Fowl anymore. But she was looking at him right now; he was right in front of her. The same deep blue eyes, the same dark hair, the same abnormally pale skin. The day after Artemis had been...resurrected, Butler had called her to tell her. He sounded more relieved than she had ever heard him. He had told her that she should wait to come to the Manor for a couple of days; apparently there had been “complications” with Artemis’ restoration to life - he had some sort of amnesia, and probably would not recognize her. It would be beneficial for her to wait until he was more accumulated to his family and closer friends before she saw him again. But now it was three days later, and she was at the Manor once more.

The two genii were sitting in Artemis’ study. Neither of them had spoken.

“So...I suppose you don’t remember me, then?”

The boy looked at her a little guiltily. “No, not exactly. Holly did tell me about you, though - you were the French girl who kidnapped No1, correct?”

Minerva felt a blush forming on her cheeks. “Yes, well, I was much younger and far more naive then.”

Artemis nodded. “Apparently I was that way once too.”

They sat in silence for a moment before Minerva spoke up again. “I’d like to build our...friendship back up again, if you want it that way. It’s up to you though, of course.”

The Irish boy looked at her again, a small smile forming on his face. “Yes. That sounds like something I’d like, too.”

Minerva slowly reached over and touched his hand, looking into his face. “May I?”

He seemed to mull the question over before making his decision, and nodding. “You may.”

The French girl intertwined their hands, smiling gently at Artemis. “I’ve missed you.”

Minerva and Artemis sat like that until Butler came up to check on them a while later, looking in the room to see his principal holding hands with the blonde girl. He smiled softly; he knew that things would turn out like this in the end. Exactly the way they should be.

**Author's Note:**

> french translations:  
> mon dieu - my god  
> non - no  
> d'accord - okay  
> bien - alright  
> les enfants - children


End file.
